Air New Zealand says it is gearing up for the busiest July in two years with the relaunch of 14 international routes in 16 days.
By 9 July, New Zealand’s national carrier will have three-quarters of its international and domestic routes back up and running with popular destinations like Honolulu, Houston and Tahiti restarting after around 820 days of not operating.
The Boeing 777-300 aircraft will also be back-flying passengers, helping towards the addition of around 40,000 seats per week in July on the international network.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says it takes a village to get the airline back up and running and is incredibly proud of the sheer amount of work the team at Air New Zealand has put in to get to this moment.
“To bring one Boeing 777-300 out of storage in Auckland takes around six to eight weeks to get it ready for the skies. We’ve hired or rehired more than 2,000 Air New Zealanders across the business including 150 pilots, more than 500 cabin crew, and 270 airport employees, with another 1100 vacancies to be filled.
“It’s no easy feat but we’re getting back to where we were so we can give our customers that Air New Zealand service they know and love.
“We’re seeing first-hand how keen people are to travel again, particularly across the Tasman. Come July, we will double our services across the Tasman and restart popular direct services like the Sunshine Coast, Hobart and Adelaide. By 9 July we will be back at all nine Australian ports which is an important milestone for us.
“I’d like to thank our customers for their patience while we get back to where we were pre-Covid, as well as our teams who are working hard to gear back up.
“Getting aircraft out of storage, people back in, opening ports, and working with new travel requirements, there’s a lot to consider, and the Air New Zealand team are doing their very best to make it happen as quickly as possible.”
Air New Zealand’s restart schedule is as follows
Departing to Auckland return from:
- Honolulu three times a week from 4 July
- Tahiti twice a week from 6 July
- New Caledonia twice a week from 6 July
- Houston three times per week from 7 July
- Adelaide three to four times per week from 6 July
- Cairns three times per week from 5 July
- Hobart twice a week from 7 July
- Sunshine Coast twice a week from 9 July
Departing Christchurch:
- Gold Coast two to four times per week from 3 July
- Nadi two to three times per week from 5 July
Departing Wellington:
- Nadi two to three times per week from 5 July
Departing Queenstown:
- Brisbane three to four times per week from 24 June
- Melbourne six to seven times per week from 24 June
- Sydney five to nine times per week from 25 June
For more, head to www.airnewzealand.com
